Volume One, Chapter 45: Are Foundations Really All Benevolent? What a Joke!
“Senior, what’s wrong?”
“Are these... Recovery Pills?”
“Exactly!”
“Nonsense!” Zhou Ping’s eyelids twitched violently. “Do you take me for a fool? This is clearly a defective product!”
Recovery Pills are the most common healing elixirs on the market, mainly used for issues like disrupted magical energy and damage to vital energy.
Not to mention, the pill’s grade is far from high.
The crucial point is that it doesn’t correspond at all to his current symptoms.
Most importantly, even among all the Recovery Pills on the market, the quality of this one is atrocious.
It’s the kind that no one would buy!
Out of the supposed full efficacy, over forty percent is toxic.
Taking it would only worsen his injuries instead of helping.
“Don’t you have Jade Void Pills? I want those!” Zhou Ping gasped, feeling his condition deteriorate rapidly.
The disciple from the Penglai Cloud Sea sect smiled faintly. “Jade Void Pills? Those come at another price!”
Zhou Ping raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t your foundation supposed to offer free aid?”
The disciple replied, “Free means just these Recovery Pills! If you want better ones, you have to pay! You understand, Jade Void Pills are quite expensive, so they can’t just be given away.”
Zhou Ping’s mouth twitched.
He had suspected as much.
This so-called foundation is nothing but a bunch of profiteers in disguise.
Still, since he hadn’t expected much, he wasn’t too disappointed. He quickly said, “I won’t take your pills for free—I’ll pay with spirit stones!”
Hearing this, the disciple’s smile grew wider. “One Jade Void Pill costs ten thousand spirit stones!”
Zhou Ping’s eyes widened in shock and anger. “What nonsense is this? Ten thousand spirit stones for a Jade Void Pill?”
Although Jade Void Pills were pricey, they never cost this much.
“Well, the situation is special now. There are so many injured in the disaster area, and our healing pills are in short supply, so naturally the price goes up!”
“Besides, money is just an external thing; nothing is more important than healing your wounds, don’t you agree, senior?”
Looking at the disciple’s half-smiling, half-smirking expression, a surge of nameless fury rose in Zhou Ping’s heart.
Good heavens.
It was blatant robbery in the midst of chaos.
Knowing he was in no state to refuse, they were mercilessly gouging him!
Yet, helpless as he was, he truly was at their mercy.
His injuries were worsening and barely under control.
Without healing pills, he would surely perish.
Under such circumstances, not to mention ten thousand spirit stones per pill, even if they demanded a hundred thousand, he’d have no choice but to agree begrudgingly.
“Fine! Ten thousand it is!” Zhou Ping nodded heavily, gasping for breath. “However, my storage talisman was destroyed, and I have no spirit stones on me right now. You give me the pills first, and once I’m healed, I’ll repay you in full!”
Upon hearing this, the disciple’s smile faded and turned cold. “No money?”
Zhou Ping hurriedly said, “I am a senior elder of the Pohai Sect’s inner circle—I would never deceive you. Once I recover, ten thousand spirit stones is a trivial sum for me to repay!”
The other disciples exchanged glances and said, “That’s not impossible, but senior, you must sign a Heart Demon Contract! If you break it, you will die utterly, never to reincarnate!”
“You—” Zhou Ping’s eyes flared with rage.
It wasn’t that he wanted to renege on the debt.
But to think that a formidable Nascent Soul stage cultivator like himself would have to sign a Heart Demon Contract just for ten thousand spirit stones—it would be a disgrace if word got out!
Yet the situation was beyond his control.
No matter how unwilling, he had no choice but to accept for the time being.
“Fine... I’ll sign.”
...
Watching Zhou Ping grit his teeth and sign the Heart Demon Contract before their eyes, Zhang Yang couldn’t help but smirk.
His son-in-law truly was a prodigy.
First, under the guise of disaster relief, he managed to offload years’ worth of unsold pills from the warehouse.
Then, he seized upon the desperation of these cultivators to sell life-saving pills at multiple times the price.
In doing so, he earned both a good reputation and a hefty profit—a win-win situation!
Meanwhile, Zhang Yang was already calculating in his mind that even ten thousand spirit stones per Jade Void Pill was too cheap.
Considering the dire straits of these disaster-stricken cultivators, even doubling the price, they would still have no choice but to buy!
...
“Everyone clear on this?”
As the group gradually dispersed, Zhang Yang said to those around him, “Use the approach I just demonstrated. Approach those severely injured cultivators who will die without treatment! Mark up the price as much as possible!”
“Understood!” The foundation’s administrators pursed their lips, their gazes somewhat vacant.
Ten thousand spirit stones for one Jade Void Pill—that was ruthless!
“Captain Zhang, I heard that the Langya Foundation supplies pills completely free of charge. Can we really sell this many pills like this?”
A young administrator asked, confused.
“Free?” Zhang Yang sneered. “Who told you that?”
“Last time on Changlan Island during the disaster, they didn’t charge a single cent from start to finish!”
“Are the circumstances the same this time? What kind of place is Changlan Island? Even Foundation Establishment cultivators run rampant there... The pills used by those low-level cultivators are worth next to nothing; of course they can afford to give them away.”
“But this Starry Archipelago has the largest trading markets within the vast sea region, and Nascent Soul cultivators number at least a dozen! And there are plenty of Golden Core cultivators! The pills they use are worth at least ten times more than those low-level cultivators’. Do you really think the Langya Commerce Guild are saints? Do you think they can afford to give those away?”
Zhang Yang’s analysis was sound and convincing, and everyone nodded in agreement.
Thus, one by one, they spread out to recommend pills to the dying cultivators.
...
“Damn foundation!” Zhou Ping sat cross-legged, refining the medicinal power of the Jade Void Pill.
He couldn’t help but curse.
These swindlers—he had paid ten thousand spirit stones for a Jade Void Pill whose efficacy was only mediocre and quality far from good.
What charity foundation?
What aid for the distressed?
Bah!
What a joke!
“Ah, isn’t this Elder Zhou?” Suddenly, a familiar voice rang beside him.
He opened his eyes to see a gaunt old man with a goatee standing not far away, smiling ambiguously at him.
“Ouyang Chu?” Zhou Ping’s pupils contracted sharply.
This man was once an inner elder of the Hengchuan Sect, a longtime rival of Pohai Sect—old acquaintances with both enmity and favor.
He suddenly felt nervous.
At a time like this, if the other made a move, he wouldn’t even have a chance to resist.
“Don’t be nervous!” Ouyang Chu saw through his thoughts and smiled with some sighs in his eyes. “Hengchuan Sect and Pohai Sect no longer exist, and you and I have no mortal grudge. How could I take advantage of your misfortune?”
Hearing this, Zhou Ping felt somewhat relieved.
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he said suspiciously, “Wait, I remember you were attacked by four Nascent Soul beasts and your injuries were worse than mine. How did you recover so quickly?”
Ouyang Chu smiled. “That’s all thanks to those big-hearted people at the foundation!”
Zhou Ping blinked in confusion.